MYSTERY OF DREAMS

Waikato Times, Volume 116, Issue 19451, 15 December 1934, Page 13 (Supplement)

MYSTERY OF DREAMS

UNSOLVED PROBLEMS : INTRIGUING PHENOMENA.

(R. (L. Megroz In English Paper.)

THE reoent broadcast of a talk on “Premonitory Dreams,” by Dame Edith Lyttelton, whose book, ‘The Subconscious Mind,” was piiblished in 1930, probably brought home to many people for the first time that there were some mysteries about dreams which are not necessarily the Inventions of superstitious minds. My own views have gradually inclined toward a belief m certain phenomena which can be described still as mysterious, although a. fpw serious students have offered explanations. I began collecting material- about dreams more than seven years ago, with no specialised interest except possibly a literary one. All literatureSj from their earliest phases, In the Orient as well as in the Western world, reveal a universal Interest in dreams and similar beliefs about their possible significance, and many of these records are far from -being purely superstitious fancies. The modern psychological interest in dreams has become a little narrow through specialisation with clinical practice in view. There are some Big Problems of Universal Interest that I think remain unsolved, and the biggest of these is a double-sided one which was pushed into some prominence a few years ago by the publication of Mr J. W. Dunne’s book, “ An Experiment with Time.” That interest in this inquiry is growing is indicated by the re-issue this 1 season of Mr Dunne’s book as well as the recent broadcast talk I have referred to. The outstanding problem is this: Can we, and do we often, "dream the future?" If -so, can he avert that foreseen “future?” My own views are of small value to anybody; but the kind of material which has influenced my way of thinking about the mysterious powers of the mind in sleep possesses that kind of appeal which may rightly be described as universal. Right away I will admit , that I think there might me more Authenticated Instances of Dreaming the Future if the subject, were given generally a serious attention; In the ancient pagan world dre’ams were certainly taken seriously, which may account for the more numerous instances (even allowing much for superstition) that were recorded of dreams “ coming true.” A typical record belonging to the ancient world is in Herodotus. If Herodotus invented it, he must have been following a conventional line of thought, since the -story is not an unusual one. It concerns Croesus, King of Lydia, whose wealth became a fable. He had two sons, one a poor dumb half-wit, and one, named Atys, the most brilliant youth of his generation. The King dreamed that his son Atys would be killed by the point of an iron weapon. Taking the dream to heart, he removed Atys from his military command, refused to let him do any more marfial exercises, and stripped all the men’s chambers in the palace of arms, which were locked up in a store-room. Atys Naturally Grew Very Discontented with what was then regarded as an effeminate existence for a young man. One day a hunt was organised to kill a large hoar that had appeared in the country and was doing much damage. After persistent pleading, Atys was allowed to join in the hunt. Croesus, however, placed him in the special care of Adrastus, the soldier who had charge of the hunt. The boar was at last encircled, and javelins were hurled at the beast. Adrastus threw his javelin, missed the boar, and mortally wounded Atys. Yes, you may say that Croesus’ fear lest his dream might'"come true was the actual cause of the disaster. There is no limit to the power of suggestion, and it is conceivable that the skilful warrior Adrastus was made so nervous by the King’s injunctions not to risk any injury to Atys that his fear caused the error of judgment or “ accident.” When we play games of skill, like golf or billiards, a fear of doing some definite wrong thing is often realised in fact, and confidence is always “half the battle.” But there are many other records of dreams that appeared, to be previsions and left no room for the power of suggestion, so that the Possibility of Prevision Remains, and all that such an example of the element of -suggestion goes to prove is that, even if we foresee an event, we may not be able to prevent it. Mr Dunne lias his own theories about this, but as anybody can read them I will keep here lo material that I have come across. It contains enough food for thought. The sudden death of King Albert of the Belgians was foreseen three weeks beforehand by at least one person, according to a strange story, told me by a friend who was staying in Bruges. The dreamer was the woman who kept the' private .-hoarding-house where he stayed. But the dream described to her guests at the breakfast tabte by the disturbed Madame was wrong in some particulars. She had seen the King driving by himself, when the car fell down a cliff edge. Many dreams seem to coilain misleading details like this, and It is Quite possible that the task of correctly Interpreting the dream may be harder than to dream of events that are goring to happen. The imagery gets confused, probably by the conscious memory. It is quite true that every event of world-wide interest Is followed by similar stories, and I hold no brief for my friend’s tale, though I am sure that he did not Invent Madame’s dream. Naturally, however, and unfortunately, he.did not refer to it until the news of King Albert’s death was published. There is no answer, either, to the person who says that the dream probably meant nothing, and that people are always dreaming of things which do not come to pass, and their -dreams are just forgotten. But the vital thing, which so many people overlook, is that- if there should be only one instance of dreaming the future which leaves No Room for a Satisfactory Explanation, either by “ coincidence ” Ca term which Is the equivalent of “ x " in algebra) or suggestion, the possibility remains that the normal mind may "see” the future, though it must be observed carefully before much evidence can he accumulated. .111 Many Important historical events of the ancient world were alleged lo have been foreseen in dreams, and In the modern world there have been more instances than could be detailed here. According to Defoe, the Plague and the Fire of London were foretold, and people had ,anticipatoiy dreams or the French Revolution. John Galt, in “ Annals of Ihe Parish,” wrote down what he described as his previsions of this. Sydney Dobell wrote down a vision of the siege of Sebastopol. President Lincoln described -dreams

of his assassination and the accompanying soenes. A retired major of the British Army has given me an account of his visions of scenes in the Great War, which came to him in 1913, when he was In a state ‘of trance during a serious Illness in the Far East. When Mr W. Hichens was hunting in Tanganyika in 1922, he dreamed , several times that he was lost In the bush while spooring buffalo. In the dream he climbed to the top of a hill and saw a native shamba (grain-field) bordering a dry river-bed beside which stood a native grass hut, under a palm. In the dream he always took the same path through the field to the hut, and met an ■old native who gave him a drink. It was a calahasja of grain-beeb, and just then lie always woke with a Sensation That He Was Falling. “ One day,” Mr Ilichens adds, “ I was bushed; everything happened exactly as in the dream, even to the gift Of beer,'where a native would'usually offer only water, and at that moment I collapsed from exhaustion and fell. I had never been to the place before.”. Anybody who thinks that they can explain this kind of dream away is. welcome to try. My own view is that we are still very ignorant about our own powers. There is something' in us that sees or knows without using the senses and without being confined to the boundaries that we have always supposed separate “ past 1 and future. The other day an American living in Paris sent me a detailed story, which he offered to have witnessed and verified by- the other people concerned. It described how, while he belonged to a set of club men who played the -game of poker every Saturday evening, he dreamed one Wednesday night of holding a" certain hand of cards, of ■how one card was transformed into another, and of how with this “ hand ” he won and took the “ pot.” I refrain from giving- the story in detail, as one needs to know the game of poker f .to follow it. But on the following Saturday evening t'he dream was Verified to the Last Detail, the change of one card occurring through an unusual discarding and picking up of another, because the dealer accidentally turned one card face upward. This mai J® friends made him promise to tell them beforehand, the next time he had such a dream 1 Well, you know what poker players are! It seems that people often dream the result of a horse race or a football match, hut less often act upon the “ tip,” which, in view of the possible snags in interpretation of such dreams, is the wisest course. _ Among the dreamers whose records I have of this nature 'is Mr Gcialt Thesiger. A Cornishman, John Williams, described in 1912 to several people his detailed dream of the murder (which occurred eight days later) of Mr Perceval, Prime Ministei and Chancellor of Llic Exchequer. The dream was repealed twice in the same night, and only the dissuasion of his wire and friends prevented Williams going to London to warn Perceval. The prevision was like a photograph o the actual scene or the assassination, as were President Lincoln’s own previsions of his death. Miss Gertrude Bacon, the famous woman balloonist, owns the original account by Williams as copied out by her grandmother, who knew him; and there is no room for doubt about the Authenticity of Lincoln’s Dream. One may well ask if in such cases the event might have been averted by taking the warning seriously. Mr Gheury de Brav, F.R.A.S., after .studying his dreams on the lines suggested by Mr J. W. Dunne, was able to record a dream of being in a certain London street emptj ■of traffic. While crossing the road a oar shot out of an unexpected place and made straight for him. then he woke up. He found himself a month later crossing Queen Victoria Street just after an experiment with one-way traffic had been -started from the Mansion House end. In the middle of the road 'he remembered his dream and recognised the situation. Just as lie paused, a car shot out of a side-turning and passed a yard in front of him. If he had not been in the habit of jotting down dreams in a note-book, the scientific explanation of this would he that at the critical moment he merely dreamed that he had dreamed it. But there it was in black and white. Strange, Cases are Recorded by a Viennese Professor of Psychology, Ignas Jesovvers. A watchmaker of Loele was pulled out of Ihe canal at Amsterdam in a dying condition, lie was bound hand and foot. Among liis papers was an account of a dream of his death which had come to him four times in the previous five weeks. Jesovvers’ also tells the case of a Hamburg apprentice who dreamed of being robbed and murdered on the road to Bergedorf. In the unorning, lie related his dream to Ins master, who said that, as it happened, he wanted him to lake some money to Bergedorf that same day. The frightened apprentice on the way asked a policeman to accompany him past a lon.ely wood on the road. The policeman sent a sturdy farm lad. When the wood was safely passed, and the lad had returned, the apprentice again lost his nerve, returned to the village he had left behind and asked the police for a companion all the way to Bergedorf. The same farm lad was chosen. While on the road the apprentice, much relieved, half jestingly told the lad of his dream, whereupon the tempted farm worker caught up a heavy stone, killed the apprentice and robbed him. Explain the disaster if you like as due to the power of suggestion resulting from the dreamer’s fear, as In the ease of old King Croesus. But unless the other-kinds of evidence pointing to the possibility of dreaming the future can be also explained away, there may still be some Element of Prevision In Such a Dream. Charles Lamb, a great dreamer, threw out the suggestion that very -active dreaming might be a sign in a youth of creative power; -but against this must be set the fact that people vary more widely in the ability to recall their dreams than in the quantity of -their dreaming. Those few who declare that they never dream are almost oertalnly mistaken; they merely never remember dreaming' I do not believe that culture or “ brains ’ makes much difference lo the power of dreaming. Among a hundred active dreamers who can remember their dreams there may be only one or two who ever recall an instance of revelation through dream. But within my narrow knowledge, among our living writers are Mr Robert Graves, Mr L. A. G. Strong, Mr T. G. Bridges, Mr Oliver Pike, the naturalist, and Mr Ralph Durand.